How you feel about your pet affects the choices you make for its feeding and care – and ultimately, how you choose to spend your pet care dollars.

Purina Interactive, a division of Nestle Purina Petcare, knows this well. The group is charged with building the Web sites that support Purina’s thousands of pet owner customers across the country and the world. Realizing that its customers fell into two basic categories – health-focused and relationship-driven – Purina teamed with design firm R/GA to build separate sites devoted to each customer persona. The resulting sites build customer loyalty and as a result, Purina says, help bolster Purina’s brands and its bottom line.

The two customer personalities are those served by two Purina products, Purina ONE and Cat Chow. Purina ONE customers are more health-focused, feel responsible for the well-being of their pets and take a more logical approach to their care. Cat Chow customers, on the other hand, are more relationship-driven and tend to view their pet as a member of the family.

Taking these personas into consideration drives Purina’s decision-making on content and function for the two sites, explained Michael Moore, worldwide director for Purina Interactive. For example, on Purina ONE’s site, there are “Wellness Quizzes,” sections with information on a pet’s life stages and health conditions, and a journal that pet owners can use to keep track of grooming and veterinarian visit. The Cat Chow site, by contrast, includes a Cat Chow Library with a section on the emotional aspects of cat care.

The personas also play a part in the look and feel of the sites. The Purina ONE site is clinical in appearance, using little color but a variety of crisp graphics and photos. The Cat Chow site, on the other hand, features a wealth of color and several pictures of pets with their owners.